Moog Source on Ebay

Want the bass sound from New Order's Blue Monday? Or those cool old school EBM basses on the early Leaetherstrip albums? Then you want you a Moog Source, buddy!

More info at the listing...

Music Thing Rides Off Into The Sunset...

Well, crap.

Music Thing, one of my personal favorite music blogs, is no more. You can read about why here. Here's wishing Mr. Whitwell the best, and that Music Thing makes a return someday when circumstances allow. I know I'll be waiting.

Tim Exile "Seminar" at Thames Valley University

The stuff this guy does live completely blows my mind. Here are a series of videos posted by mhodsonsoundengineer of Tim doing his thing as some sort of demonstration/lecture given at Thames Valley University.

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4

Roland HS-10 SynthPlus on Ebay

If you're thinking to yourself, "Hmm... that looks like an Alpha Juno 1", you're not far off. The HS-10 was basically a version of the Alpha Juno 1 aimed at the home market. As far as I know, the only difference aside from the name is that the HS-10 has a built-in speaker for playback.

Check out the listing...

Florian Schneider Leaves Kraftwerk

NME.com is reporting that Kraftwerk co-founder Florian Schneider has left Kraftwerk after 40 years, leaving Ralf Hütter as the only remaining original member. No reason was given for the departure.

Alan Parsons to Release Sound Engineering Course on DVD

In the world of recording and production, few names are more highly-regarded than Alan Parsons. Best known for his work on Pink Floyd's legendary "Dark Side of the Moon" album, Parsons had a reputation for ground-breaking techniques and somehow producing pristine recordings without losing the warmth and humanity in the songs. Just the sort of guy aspiring home and pro recordists might want some advice from.

Cool to know, then, that Parsons is working on a 3-disc DVD set called The Art & Science of Sound aimed at teaching about the tools and techniques used in the modern recording studio. I don't see any mention of when this is to be released, but it will be one to keep an eye (or ear) out for most definitely.

Kyma Capybara 320 on Ebay

If you're not familiar with it, the Symbolic Sound Kyma workstation is probably one of the foremost sound design platforms out there. If you've heard the voices in Disney's Wall-E, you've heard it in action, but there are probably literally thousands more examples, as it's heavily used in Hollywood. You can check out some cool sound demos of it here.

Check out the listing...

Tech Interview with Burikusu!!!

I thought it might be interesting to start a new feature on Waveformless - technically-oriented interviews with types of bands that don't often get exposure in the larger press. I don't know how often I'll do these, but I realized that I happen to know a lot of really talented people and that their fans, and electronic musicians in general, might appreciate hearing how they work. We'll start off with Burikusu!!!, a band from Sweden whose album I released late last year and have pimped rather heavily here. I hope you enjoy it and if there are any other bands you'd like to see interviewed here, by all means let me know. My resources are limited here, but I will try my best!
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WAVEFORMLESS: Tell me a bit about how Burikusu!!! got started and what your musical influences are...

Burikusu!!!: It started with that Timmy, after hearing the track "Electrocute" from my earlier band vember, really wanted to work with us. We started to try to use Timmy's rapping on some tracks but we quickly found out that me and Timmy just work well together in the studio. We share the same sense of playfulness and humour and have a lot of fun while working. Although I do all the production, it helps me to work with someone else as it keeps me from getting bored and running out of ideas. In addition to his rapping, his vocal sound when singing is also quite different from mine so we complement each other well.

None of us really likes hip-hop.

WAVEFORMLESS: What’s the origin of the name?

Burikusu!!!: It's derived from UN weapons inspector Hans Blix. His last name but written in Japanese. This is more due to an element of randomness inherent in our creative process rather than us trying to be political.

WAVEFORMLESS: What is your studio set-up like? Any favorite pieces of gear?

Burikusu!!!: My studio is mainly software based so the one thing really standing out is my monitors (dynaudio BM15A) which I really love. I'm growing quite fond of my new vocal chain too, a Shure SM7B going into a ART Voice Channel, but I didn't have that when we did 2080.

Software wise pretty much everything is done with Ableton Live and Surge, with a few other plug-ins used on occasion.

WAVEFORMLESS: Describe for us how you go about creating one of your tracks. Do you have a set way of doing things, or does it vary?

Burikusu!!!: It tends to be different from time to time. It could be an inspiring sample, a short 4/8-bar loop, a lyrical theme or just some vocal idea.

WAVEFORMLESS: One of the most striking things about your music are the vocal treatments. Can you tell us a bit about this? Any favorite techniques or tricks?

Burikusu!!!: Think of vocals like drums.

I use the warping engine in Live a lot for the vocals, chopping them up, repeating bits, transposing and time-stretching small segments with different warping modes and that kind of stuff. I often use the vocal effects as a way to get the song to flow the way I intended, and as the vocal tends to be the center of the listeners attention it is usually very effective.

WAVEFORMLESS: The track of yours that always seems to blow people away when I play it for them is Mikeeboi, where you cut up samples of Mike Tyson talking trash to sound as if he’s rapping. Tell us a bit about how you achieved that...

Burikusu!!!: He actually was rapping to a certain extent, as he had a really nice flow which made the process relatively straightforward with the warping in Live.

WAVEFORMLESS: You also create your own software, as well as working for Ableton. Do you find that the ability to create your own tools influences the way you make music at all, and if so, how?

Burikusu!!!: It does give me a very deep understanding of the software and the innovations I add to the software stem from the things I desire to try out as an electronic musician so of course when I finally get to try them out it makes a big difference. Making music also makes me much better at building the tools.

WAVEFORMLESS: What sorts of changes in software do you think we’ll see in the coming years? What would you most like to see?

Burikusu!!!: As I see it, music software is still in its infancy. There are a quite a few fundamental concepts that will have to change before it can truly mature. Of course, as holder of the much coveted secret recipe I don't intend to share it, haha..

WAVEFORMLESS: How has technology affected the way you work?

Burikusu!!!: Technology IS the way we work. I don't think I would be making music without it, except maybe for playing piano for my own amusement.

WAVEFORMLESS: What’s the on plug-in you couldn’t live without?

Burikusu!!!: Surge. I know it like if it were an extension to my body and if I want to change or add anything I can.

WAVEFORMLESS: What does the future hold for Burikusu!!! ?

Burikusu!!!: We have a lot of new material in the pipeline and hope to have something new out during 2009. We probably still won't put together a live show unless something unexpected happens though.

WAVEFORMLESS: Finally, as one last question... why is ADSL so slow?

Burikusu!!!: Mostly because it's asymmetric. Burikusu!!! is all about symmetry.

Burikusu's debut album "2080" is out on 23db Records. Check out samples and buy on line here.

Arp 2600 on Ebay

"This auction is for a rare, early version ARP 2600 from the personal collection of Phil Cirocco of CMS / Discrete Synthesizers. It features a rare, vintage ARP 2600P V2.0 console and a 3604P keyboard. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to own a fully functional, killer sounding synthesizer, as well as a rare piece of electronic music history."

Read more at the listing...

Rob Papen to Release Instructional Sound Design DVD

I was surprised I hadn't heard about this one, but apparently it comes out in spring:

"A Masterclass by ROB PAPEN
Rob Papen is a worldwide renowned sound designer whose sounds and virtual synthesizers are used and loved by many synthesizer players and music producers.
This DVD gives in-depth insight of his approach of working with subtractive synthesis.

In 2001 Rob Papen started giving an exclusive masterclass training "Sound Design" in his studio.
For this he developed his own method to explain the secrets of subtractive synthesis, called "The 4 Element Synth".
This masterclass training is now transformed into a DVD box, containing a booklet, a printed image of the "4 Element Synth" and a video DVD. Next to that it contains numerous 'tips and tricks' which will help you making and tweaking your own sounds. Rob uses all kind of synthesizers. Hardware and software.

We are sure this DVD training is an eye-opener for every synthesizer player, from novice to pro.
A must have for everyone who takes his sounds serious!"

Free Logic Tutorials on YouTube

A user on my band's discussion forum (Hello, Vapor!) posted these earlier today and I thought they might be of interest to Waveformless readers... enjoy!

Roland SH-1 and CSQ-101 Sequencer on Ebay

EDIT: I erroneously had this listed as an SH-101, which it obviously is not, although they do share a similar architecture...

I don't know how rare these are, but I certainly don't recall seeing either on eBay in the past.

Check out the listing...

Happy 2009 from Waveformless!

Here's wishing all our readers a fantastic 2009! No posts today as I expect to be hung over, and I expect you to be, too.

Oberheim Matrix-12 on Ebay

What's better than an Oberheim Xpander? How about two of them crammed into one keyboard?

Check the listing...